Sounds like cognitive therapy is very similiar to what I've been covering in life coaching. It changed my life in a positive way too. I can now get myself out of a bad or sad mood by simply listening to a relaxation CD I have, or by replacing those negative thoughts with positive ones. What I like best about the life coaching is that it taught me to be "aware" of my thoughts and awareness is half the battle. If people realized how powerful their thoughts were, they'd be much more careful about which thoughts they let in. All I know is after a session, I always feel good about myself and life, and feel extremely positive. This impacts the rest of the day and I always have a great day. At day's end, I reflect and realize I want more of that and make a conscious decision to have another great day tomorrow. I very rarely have down days anymore, I just don't allow myself to. When I do have a down thought, I ask myself whether it's true, and 90% of the time it's not, then I tell myself to get that thought out of my head, and I do.

It's all about positive thinking, you're thinking you'd like to be rich which is a positive thought, but then you also think it's unlikely that it will happen which is a negative thought. One cancels the other. The brain is the most powerful tool we have, but it has to be used very carefully. Your subconscious hears what you'd like but also hears that you don't expect it. Try just thinking positively that you'd like to be wealthy and follow that with more positive thoughts as to what a wealthy life would look like. Don't know if you're interested, but one of the books I was instructed to read was The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy. It was very enlightening for me, and I have reread it several times. It takes a while to retrain your thinking, but it is possible.